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TROY -- Jurors in the Michael Mosley murder trial Tuesday heard recordings of the first two interviews police conducted with the defendant at his home and place of work last year, during which a very talkative Mosley told of rumors he heard on the streets about the killings.

Mosley, 41, of Averill Park faces up to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder in the torture, beating and stabbing deaths of Samuel "Frost'' Holley, 27, and Arica Lynn Schneider, 18, on Jan., 26, 2002, in their Brunswick Road apartment.

"I heard from people that two guys and a girl were hitting up people,'' Mosley said on one recording. "The girl would go in first.''

Mosley also said that word on the street was that a woman who lived in the building saw three men at the apartment the night of the killings.

The interviews were done a year ago shortly after Mosley became a suspect when his DNA was identified at the scene but before he was arrested. The interviews were taped with a wire worn by Investigator Gary Gordon without the defendant's knowledge. Gordon also testified he had a pen in his pocket that was actually a video recorder, but that video was not shown.

Investigators did not tell Mosley about the DNA match and told him they needed his help solving the crime and wanted to know if he knew Bryan Berry and Terrence Battiste, who were first charged in the case. Charges against them were later dropped.

"What about the two guys that got locked up for this?'' former Troy police Capt. John Riegert can be heard asking Mosley.

"I don't know,'' Mosley said. "I never even heard their names.''

It was later determined the neither Mosley nor Holley knew Berry and Battiste.

Mosley said he "vaguely'' knew Holley, though trial testimony has already shown they allegedly worked together selling crack cocaine.

On the tapes Mosley can be heard deeply sighing as he began to answer each question.

He also provided investigators a rundown of all the drug activity and people he knew in and around South Troy -- including at Natures Pub and the former Strokers, two biker bars -- and involving the Hells Angels and Dominican Saints biker gangs.

Included on the tapes were several minutes of noise from the car ride to and from Mosley's home. After one interview, police, back in the car, comment to each other about Mosley's demeanor.

"He was nervous,'' one detective can be heard saying. "His voice was quivering. He had some funny looking facial expressions.''

There was also a part on the end of one tape where the detectives make quick, racy quips about a woman's physique. Gordon, who was on the stand at the time, looked uncomfortable but defense attorney Terry Kindlon leaned back with a broad smile on his face.

The defense had argued that the tapes should be played in their entirety to assure prosecutors had not edited them in their favor.

Earlier in the day, testimony provided by Riegert, revealed that prosecutors had a weak case against Berry and Battiste, who local and federal investigators said robbed local drug dealers. Prosecutors originally theorized that Berry and Battiste may have targeted Holley, who dealt crack, and killed the couple during a robbery.

Riegert told jurors that they had no hard evidence against the men until jail-house informant Izell Dickerson surfaced saying he talked in prison with one of the defendants who admitted to him the pair killed the couple. Also, a neighbor on Brunswick Road, Theresa Pitcher, said she saw Battiste with two other men at the apartment the night of the killings.

After the two came forward, Berry and Battiste were indicted.

"He (Dickerson) recanted his testimony on the stand during a pre-trial hearing last year,'' Riegert said.

"How many times did you interview Theresa Pitcher,'' Assistant District Attorney Christa Book asked.